Based in Tokyo and New York, they are expats who have come home
to buy and write about Australian style.

Bargwanna is, in fact, rarer still. Living in Tokyo for the past
10 years, the woman from Orange is, she believes, the only foreign
fashion buyer based in Japan. After travelling to Japan first as an
exchange student and then five years setting up the Tokyo office of
Chris O'Hanlan's ill-fated Spike IT, Bargwanna is now the head
buyer for a company called Sympathy.

She is responsible for the merchandise mix in the country's nine
Q fashion boutiques.

Melbourne-born Soo has been in Tokyo since 1998, and at one
stage designed her own fashion label - the short-lived Must Love
Cats, which was stocked by Q.

Now the international fashion co-ordinator for Japan's most
prestigious fashion magazine - Vogue Nippon - she flies in
clothes from around the world for editorial shoots.

Bargwanna and Soo will never run the risk of getting lost in
translation in Tokyo. Both are fluent Japanese speakers - a major
advantage in the competitive fashion market.

"Because I stand out and because I'm really different it's
totally to my advantage in both countries," Bargwanna said.

She plans to pick up two new Australian labels this week - Alice
McCall and Mad Cortes - to add to the three Australians brands she
already stocks (Jain, Tina Kalivas and Lover).

"Wherever I go I stand out because I'm the gaijin who speaks
Japanese in Japan or I'm the Japanese buyer who speaks English
overseas and everyone's like 'oh my God'.

"Everyone remembers me, which is great."

Another expat Melburnian, Elizabeth Charles, has lived in New
York for seven years, originally working as a management consultant
on Wall Street.

Spotting a new market in 2002 - antipodean fashion - Charles
opened her eponymous boutique selling Australian and New Zealand
labels, moving to the hip Meatpacking District.

She sells about 20 labels including Toni Maticevski, Jayson
Brunsdon, Karen Walker and Zambesi. After two days of shows in
Melbourne, she's very interested in Nicola Finetti and is looking
at a few others.

"It's a big point of difference because most of the labels I
stock aren't available anywhere else in the US," Charles said. "And
Americans are into anything unique and different."